Backup hangs and STOP does not stop
When running a backup it hangs quickly (a minute) after the start, (in my case after 396 MB), and does not continue. The "calculating time remaining" also remains open. After 15 minutes I try to "STOP", which then shows "processing" which also hangs. The only way to stop the program is by ending the various Acronis tasks and rebooting.
The full backup size has been around 70 GB, and took 15 minutes including verification.
I have already tried creating a new backup, uninstall Acronis and do a new clean installation. Same problem.
Acronis True Image 2018, latest Build 15470.
I have also ran checks on the main disk from where the backup runs and the destination backup disk (WD My Drive).
I also installed another backup program (AOMEI Backupper) and it worked without any problem.
Any help would be appreciated.
Steve, thank you for your response.
I downloaded the viewer and the last lines in the various log files state the following:
"Pending operation 173 started: Creating partition image"
That appears to be where the program hangs.
I have uploaded 2 of the logs.
Thank you for the logs, unfortunately they don't give any more clues as to why the task behaves as it does?
Was there any significant changes on your computer prior to this issue starting, i.e. a Windows upgrade to such as #1903 build?
Have you tried reselecting the source data for your backup task?
Have you tested creating a new backup task using the same source data?
I haven't made any significant changes. I even have been holding back upgrading to Microsoft build #1903. Although now I may give it a try.
I've tried cloning the original backup task and also creating a new task.
After all the various tries, I did a full uninstall of Acronis, reboot (to clear any memory and cache), and do a clean install. Although after the new installation, it did recognize and bring back my former tasks, I assume due to logging into Acronis and retrieving my account license.
I'm out of ideas.
If you just uninstalled then installed again it isn’t a clean install - you need to run the Acronis Cleanup Tool after doing the uninstall then restart before installing again. You will have to create your backup tasks again unless you use the option to save the settings to a zip file in the ATI GUI first then import the settings again later.
I'd do the full cleanup and reinstall too. Make sure to download the cleanup tool and right-click and "run as administrator" even if you are logged in with admin already - always do this for installing / uninstalling applications.
After the cleanup, reboot to clean up the registry.
Then download the latest Acronis True Image installer from your account and make sure to right-click "and run as administrator" to install it. Then reboot to clean up the registry.
Then try to backup again.
If it still fails, there is likely an issue with the disk or partition and you should first try to run the following from an elevated command prompt (right-click and run CMD with "run as administrator")
chkdsk /f /r C:\
reboot and let it check the disk and look for signs of detected corruption and status of the repair
****EDIT - you may want to do this on the source and destination drive****
You may also want to format the destination drive (use elevated command prompt, diskpart...
select disk X (replace with the correct disk - make sure it is the right one!!!)
clean
Then go into computer management >> disk manager and initialize the disk and format it as NTFS and assign a volume letter.
Then try to clone or do a backup and restore again.
Thank you both.
I've already checked both the source and destination disks, both are good and no errors.
Tomorrow, I'll run the uninstall and Cleanup Utility before reinstalling.
Will let you know the outcome.
I did an Uninstall, ran Cleanup Utility, verified the Registry, Reboot, and new Install of Acronis True Image. I configured a new backup task and started the backup. Unfortunately, the same problem returned.
I have uploaded a PDF file with a "play by play" account of what took place during an hour of following the process. Maybe this will raise some ideas.
I have also uploaded the 3 log files that were created during that time. I see no difference and no more info than the former log file.
If anyone has more input I would appreciate your response. Last resort before moving over to a different app.
Thank you for the PDF file information & log files. The logs do not show anything new but your PDF document suggests that you are simply not waiting long enough for the backup process to complete.
10:00 Start backup: "Backing up.... 396 MB" "Calculating time remaining....."
10:15 No change from before.Press "Stop", shows "Processing..."
10:25 Does not stop.I close the app, Task still shows in task bar as 0% complete.
10:30 Computer reboot, Windows starts, Acronis task comes up shows 5% complete and continues
10:35 Still advancing, "58 GB, 50 m remaining, 12% complete"
10:40 Still advancing, but slowly, "88 GB, 52 m, 18%"
10:42 No advancement, same info as before.
10:50 No movement, same info as before.Press "Stop", "Processing..."
10:55 Does not stop, I close the app and reboot.
I would suggest letting the task run for at least 1-2 hours and more if it is showing signs of progress.
Agreed with Steve. That pause at the beginning is pretty normal as it calculates changes and then picks up and chugs along.
I would say that your backup is pretty slow, but likely do to the physical aspects of the source and destination drives (type of hard drive, drive speed, USB speed?, Computer resources (memory and cpu speed and availability).
For reference, I backup 100GB on a PCIe NVMe drive to another internal WD black 3TB drive on a SATA3 connection and it takes less than than 8 minutes from start to finish. When I change the destination to an external USB SSD it takes about 11 minutes. When I change the destination to an internal SSD it takes about 6 minutes.
We really don't know anything about any of your hardware. However, if you're using 5400RPM drives, USB 2.0 or 1.1 or have a slow CPU/memory all of these will impact performance.
How much data are you backing up too? We know that 88GB at 18% so it sounds like about 500GB to backup. At current speeds, it's going to take you around 5 hours from start to finish for the first full to complete. If you keep stopping it, it will start from scratch again.
My hardware specs: CPU i5 6500 Skylake, Memory 16 GB, SSD 250 GB. Destination drive via USB 3 to a WD My Book 2 TB.
The hardware and backup task are the same that I've been using for over a year, backup file reaching to around 70 GB, within a total time of approx' 15 minutes (and that includes verification).
Besides the test that I did and wrote down in the above message, I've run numerous tests over the past week-plus, some of them I waited for more than 40 minutes after the system did not continue. It never advanced nor did the stop action succeed.
I have also followed the backup process with the Windows Task Manager, and there was no problem with the amount of free memory, CPU, or disk usage.
As you can see, the problem does not appear to be due to either the hardware or enough time.
If this backup used to take a total of 15 minutes then the only other suggestion I can make is to try going to a different backup drive or location if you have the option to do so?
Have you tried a different USB 3 cable and/or port for the external drive connection?
I'll try your suggestions.
Thank you.
How much free space is on the 2TB drive?
How fragmented is the 2TB drive?
What about disabling AV as a test as well to see if it speeds up?
What's the USB device policy... Quick removal or optimized for performance?
Can you try a backup to a different drive and see if it's still slow?
Have cables been swapped out or a hub added that might be limiting USB bandwidth?
Any look at the Windows logs for errors that might show another issue?
It's really hard to say what's changed in this setup, but pretty sure it's not specific to Acronis at this point. You'd be the first to experience it from my recollection of past forum posts.
Regarding all the hardware and software questions, all those issues have been checked. No problems there.
I even installed "Hard Disk Central" to analyze and follow the workings of all drives.
I took the external destination drive out of the equation and configured a basic backup task of the main drive, Drive 0 which is on the SSD, backing up to the second internal drive, a SATA HDD.
I ran the task 3 separate times and each time the same thing happened: The backup starts, quickly reaches around 400 MB and freezes. I wait 15 minutes, hit STOP, wait again and after nothing happens I reboot the computer. After Windows comes up the backup task starts independently, processes the backup from the beginning and even finishes. (In prior tests that I've mentioned before, I never waited for the second time to complete, but immediately stopped the process). The fact that the backup completes on its own after the reboot, obviously does not solve the problem. Intriguing but not a solution.
The size of the full backup is 66 GB, time took 10 min.
I installed another image backup app, AOMEI, and for the last 2 days I have run at least 6 different image backups, and all have succeeded with no problems. It also uses Windows VSS. Same hardware, same configuration, but works.
Over the past weeks, I have spent hours upon hours of testing and re-testing. Unless you have any other suggestions, and I greatly appreciate your assistance, I think that I have to move on and work with a different app other than Acronis. Unfortunately, they lost me as a client.
Thank you Steve and thank you Bobbo_
Haim Brody
Haim, the only other suggestion would be to participate in the current ATI 2020 Beta program and see if you still see the same issue, as if so, you then can report it directly to Acronis for investigation via either the Beta Forums or using the Feedback tool in the main GUI.
Steve, Thank you, I'll check it out.